Friday morning’s macabre killing of eight police officers and personnel in Kanpur is not an isolated implication of criminal-politician nexus. Similar grotesque incidents have been taking place with disturbing impunity as the unholy alliance has continued to bloom. But this nexus is exposed only when servile men in khaki fall prey to bullets.
Dreaded ravine range Chhabiram and his cohorts carried out the worst ever attack on police on September 21, 1981. In an encounter with cops of Aliganj police station (Etah) the gang eliminated all 11 cops, including SHO Rajpal Singh, on Hamirpur-Etah border. Chhabiram’s proximity to certain political leaders and parties was an open secret.
Another incident that hogged media attention was on June 2, 2016, when two officers — SP (City) Mukul Dwivedi and SHO Santosh Yadav — were killed and several cops were injured after they were fired at trying to evict illegal encroachment in Jawaharbagh of Mathura. The police had gone there after a court ordered that the park be freed of encroachment. After losing their colleagues, the police retaliated by opening fire that left 35 squatters dead.
The squatters’ leader Ram Vriksh Yadav was once a follower of Jai Gurudev and he and his men had grabbed the site since 2014. Originally from Ghazipur, Yadav ran a parallel government with the patronage of several politicians and hence enjoyed clout in the local administration. Yadav also perished in the encounter.
Yet another incident that comes to mind was the lynching of a DySP, Zia-ul-Haq in Kunda of Pratapgarh. The incident also left several cops with injuries. The cops had gone there to defuse a law and order problem after a gram pradhan, Nanhe Yadav, and his brother were killed in Ballipur area on March 3, 2013.
Slain DySP’s widow Parveen Azad accused legislator Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya of being involved in the murder and also filed an FIR. However, a CBI probe found no connection of Raja Bhaiya in the lynching.
In another daring ambush on July 23, 2007, six commandos of Special Task Force and a police informer were killed by members of Ambika Patel alias Doctor alias Thokiya gang. The STF team were returning after killing a Thokiya gang member and was carrying his body in the vehicle from Chitrakoot when they were attacked.
Earlier, the STF had snuffed out brigand Shiv Kumar Patel alias Dadua.
Dadua’s nexus with politicians had reached a stage that he and his kin had big say in Bundelkhand politics. Subsequently, Dadua’s kin also won assembly and parliamentary polls. While the attack was passed on as a revenge killing by Thoikiya gang, well-placed sources claimed that it was a revenge operation to get even for Dadua’s death. What is more, a DySP of STF heading the operation was victimised later and had to face a departmental probe and was suspended for several years.
Another STF cop, Dharmendra Singh, was also gunned down in Kanpur when he tried to intercept two hitman of Atiq and Rafiq gang on Mall Road near Heer Palace on August 18, 2004.
Dreaded don Shree Prakash Shukla’s proximity to politicians also became his nemesis as the STF was formed by then Chief Minister Kalyan Singh for his arrest/elimination.
On December 3, 2018, Inspector Subodh Singh lost his life while controlling mob violence in Bulandshahr. A mob of around 400 people, including right-wing activists, rampaged through Chingrawathi village, after cow carcasses were found in a nearby jungle. Vehicles were torched, missiles were hurled and guns were also fired at police which was retaliated. Embarrassing the ruling party, the name of Bajrang Dal activist Yogesh Raj surfaced as the prime conspirator in the lynching of the inspector.